I’m sure if anyone came up to Dave or to me and asked if we were vegetarians, we would chuckle a little while stating a resounding “no, definitely not”.

If you feel the same way, I’d like to encourage you to consider how you might incorporate 1 or more meatless meals into your weekly meal plans.

You might be surprised how easy it is to do — and how little you’ll actually miss the meat.

1. ITALIAN:

Everyone in our family LOVES pasta… and while I love a good meaty lasagna, I find that more often than not, our Italian meals are vegetarian.

What’s not to love about a heaping pile of pasta with delicious Alfredo, marinara, or pesto sauce, crusty bread, steamed veggies, a salad, and some fruit. This is pretty much our go-to meal of choice any time we’re running short on time or any night we can’t decide what to eat.

Even if you do add a little meat to the sauce (ground beef, ground turkey, shredded chicken, etc.) it’s still significantly less expensive than grilling a big steak or burgers.

UPDATE: We’ve been eating tons of zoodles and spaghetti squash lately — but we still often enjoy it as a meatless meal (with lots of extra veggies).

2. BREAKFAST:

We eat breakfast for dinner roughly once a week — and it’s pretty much a no-brainer for the vegetarian category because there are SO many delicious meatless options.

3. MEXICAN:

Mexican food is another area where I can easily substitute extra beans, cheese, tomatoes, rice, or other “fillers” for some or all of the meat without anyone complaining. In fact, our kids often prefer my meatless Mexican options.

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28 comments

Calliope

06/06/2018

The next time you feel adventurous or want to get out of the same meals rut, try greek cuisine. It is Mediterranean to the bone and about 70% meatless. People still eat meat only once or twice a week although things are changing, I’m afraid. My favorite summer dish is stuffed vegetables with rice. And fried zucchini with tzatziki sauce. And an omelette filled with whatever vegetable I have in the fridge or in the garden. All of the above served with a greek salad with lots of feta cheese.

We love black bean burgers! We make a Tex-Mex bean salad that is super yummy with red and black beans (or any). We also love three-bean soup. We have great recipes for each of these, so I can’t say that any one you try will be yummy! I’ll share our recipes if there is interest.

We love black bean burgers, I buy them frozen (Morningside or Boca) and have on hand for a quick ‘burger meal’. You can load them up like a regular burger or put avacado and salsa and cheese on top. We also like a little bacon 🙂 Not veggie anymore, but darn delicious!

Beth

06/02/2016

Have you ever tried using TVP (texturized vegetable protein) in your meatless meals? I think it’s made from soy, but sort of looks like little ground beef crumbles. I made some taco salads for our lunch today and made “TVP taco meat” for them. My kids loved it, and it’s very good for you.

Becky

06/02/2016

I am 60 and started eating less meals with meat. I love refried beans on tacos instead of hamburger. I make my own lentil soup and don’t put ham in it. I make hummus with garbanzo beans for lunch and dip tortilla chips in it, probably with kids would have to add other stuff for the meal like a fruit and vegetable. I am definitely not a vegetarian, just had a steak the other day LOL.

Kelly

Oh egg salad sandwiches. I LOVED these growing up, but Dave will not touch hard boiled eggs to save his life. He is VERY easy-going when it comes to food, but hard boiled eggs will not touch his lips 🙂

We do grilled cheese and tomato soup a lot in the winter… everyone loves that meal!

navya

06/18/2014

In India we are predominantly vegetarian . I love your blog and I am able to replicate most of your recipes with extra veggies beans lentils and egg substitutes for baking. The results have been yummy food.

I’ve implemented all of these tips, except the breakfast for dinner idea. My boys all really love their meat so stretching it with rice, beans, lentils, and veggies work best for us. When our breakfasts have meat, I just use a little sausage or bacon in our eggs, potatoes, and veggies rather than serving entire pieces on the side. We rarely grill entire pieces of meat anymore. This has helped the grocery budget tremendously. I think my favorite tip is adding lentils to ground meat. Thanks for the post!

Calliope

06/17/2014

Going meatless all days but 2 is very very very normal in Greece, where I live. And pasta is just one meal of the week 🙂 How is that possible? By cooking in various ways all vegetables and by eating 2-3 times fresh fish and seafood. Legumes are another staple esp in winter. During summer they are substituted by an abundance of vegetables and fruit which are more suitable under the hot hot hot sun. Try to find greek recipes for gemista (stuffed tomatoes) and ladera (meaning cooked in olive oil) Andrea, I really like your blog 🙂 Due to time difference, usually it’s the last thing I read before I go to bed! So…good night!!

Lauren

Ashley B

06/17/2014

Great suggestions Andrea! Breakfast for dinner is a favorite of mine 😀 I’ve recently encountered issues with gluten, but before that pasta was my go-to as well! I agree–what’s not to love?? It’s harder to go meatless these days (no pasta or bread to fill in…) but these are all still very doable suggestions!

Tinkyada brown-rice pasta is your new best friend Ashley! There are others out there, but this particular brand has the most predictable and normal texture to our tastebuds.Try a package from your health food store and if you like it, order it in bulk from Vitacost.com. Pasta can still be a go-to meal for you. 🙂

If you have an Aldi’s grocery store try their G free line of food. Most are pretty good. They have both spaghetti and curly pasta and is brown rice and very good. The trick is to fine the exact cooking time. All rice noodles can easily be cook too much and basically turn into mush.